Scientists have discovered microscopic animals that came back to life after being frozen for 24,000 years

Group of researchers have discovered bdelloid rotifers, microscopic animals that come to life after being frozen for 24,000 years in the permafrost of northeastern Siberia, belonging to the Russian Federation. The results were published in the specialist journal Current biology, in which it was shown to be the longest case of frozen rotifers surviving, since previous studies suggested that these microscopic multicellular animals only managed to survive six or ten years after have been frozen between – 20 and 0 degrees Celsius.

Being microscopic, bdelloid rotifers are not visible. However, These are animals that have inhabited planet Earth for millennia and are present in fresh water., as well as in wet soils, but its main feature is that it is extremely resistant to low temperatures, which was once again confirmed by scientists Lyubov Shmakova, Natalia Yakovenko, Tatiana Vishinivetskaya, Daniel Shain, Michael Plewka, Elizaveta Rivkin and Stas Malavin.

Malavin, a researcher at the Soil Cryology Laboratory at the Institute of Physicochemical Problems and Soil Sciences in Puschino, Russia, explained that the report is, to date, the strongest evidence that multicellular animals could endure tens of thousands of years in cryptobiosis, almost completely stopped metabolism state.

Samples for the study were collected at a depth of 35 meters in the Alazeya River, located in northeast Siberia. and which flows into the East Siberian Sea. The team of scientists used a drilling rig to obtain part of the core of the Arctic sea ice and also used radiocarbon to determine the age of the specimen, which turned out to be between 23,960 and 24,485 years old. .

Some previously reported multicellular organisms that have come back to life after being frozen are a 30,000-year-old nematode worm, as well as mosses and plants that have regenerated after thousands of years trapped in ice.

For its part, Matthew Meselson, molecular biologist from Harvard University pointed the finger at the American newspaper The New York Times (TNYT) than rotifers “They are one of the most resistant animals in the world and to almost all forms of torture.”. Another quality of bdelloid rotifers is their resistance, not only to low temperatures, but also to radiation, extreme acidity, hunger, low oxygen and years of dehydration.

More, TNYT ensured that these tiny and tough microorganisms are present everywhere– In damp strands of moss, in puddles of rain and in bodies of fresh water that extend over arctic and tropical regions. Rotifers are around half a millimeter long and typically live in freshwater environments. The name they receive refers to the crown that forms around their mouth and is shaped like a wheel., which is used by the tiny creatures for movement and for food.

In this included, Malavin concluded that a multicellular organism can be frozen and stored for thousands of years and then come back to life, but the more complex the organism, the chances of keeping it alive frozen are less, so that currently for mammals cryptobiosis is not possible, according to information from the Spanish newspaper As.

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